Americans Abroad Wrap

Americans Abroad Wrap

Coming off the United States Men’s National Team’s midweek friendly tie against Russia, most of the U.S. players involved in the Russia game got the weekend off.

But for those who did play this weekend, there were plenty of highlights, including Terrence Boyd’s goal.

See how your favorite Americans did in this week’s Americans Abroad Wrap.

Tottenham

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In a bit of a surprising move, neither American started for Spurs, as Andre Villas-Boas favored an Emmanuel Adebayor-Jermaine Defoe strike partnership up top and Clint Dempsey was dropped to the bench.

AVB also made the dubious decision to start Hugo Lloris in goal over Brad Friedel. Lloris ended up getting shellacked by Arsenal for five goals.

While Emmanuel Adebayor’s 18th-minute red card certainly didn’t help and Lloris didn’t commit any overt howlers, it is reasonable to say that Friedel may have made one or more of the saves Lloris didn’t.

Friedel has been in great form the last few weeks, and the decision to go with Lloris smacked of the poor, inexperienced decisions that AVB made repeatedly at Stamford Bridge last year before being fired.

Dempsey’s exclusion was more understandable considering that he has struggled in the withdrawn striker role AVB has consistently placed him in.

However, after Spurs went down two goals in the first half, Dempsey was introduced at the halftime break.

In his 45 minutes, Dempsey played well even though he failed to help Tottenham back into the match.

Playing higher up the pitch, Dempsey created a couple of half-chances for himself and played a great through ball to Gareth Bale that went unconverted.

One wonders if Dempsey would be a better option than Aaron Lennon out wide. While Lennon has loads of pace, his service, vision and finishing all leave something to be desired.

Aston Villa

Villa put up a good fight early in the match, creating a couple of chances that were well-saved by Joe Hart, but City was able to create a lead just before the half putting away a loose ball in the penalty area after a City corner kick.

In the second half, any chance of a Villa comeback was killed by two dubious penalty calls, both of which City converted. Late in the second half, City found the net twice more to claim three points and the 5-0 win.

Eric Lichaj was not in the 18 for Villa.

Elsewhere in the Premier League

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Tim Howard and Everton were beaten 2-1 by Reading, giving Reading its first win of the Premier League season.

Howard couldn’t do much on either of Reading’s goals, as one was scored on a redirected header right in front of him and the other was on a penalty.

Howard’s worst moment of the game was when he came out of the box in the 11th minute to try and cut off a Reading long ball, but missed, gifting Reading an open chance at Everton’s net, which went unconverted.

Howard’s best moments of the game came in the 23rd minute when he had a good punch and a solid catch on two consecutive services from Reading into the Everton penalty area.

Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu’s Stoke City plays on Monday against West Ham.

Ze Germans

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Jermaine Jones started and played 74 minutes in Schalke’s 2-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Danny Williams and Fabian Johnson started in Hoffenheim’s 3-1 loss to Wolfsburg. Johnson played the whole game. Capping off a poor week for both club and country, Williams was taken off at the half.

Steve Cherundolo did not play in Hannover’s 2-1 loss to Freiburg.

Timmy Chandler started and played the whole game in Nurnberg’s 1-1 tie with Bayern Munich.

In the English Championship

Zak Whitbread got the start and went the distance in Leicester’s 6-0 dismantling of Ipswich.

Elsewhere in Europe

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Carlos Bocanegra is expected to be out six weeks after tearing his hamstring in the first half in the U.S.’ midweek friendly against Russia. Bocanegra was not part of Racing Santander's 3-0 loss to Villarreal.

Oguchi Onyewu was dropped from Malaga’s starting XI after a rough outing last week. He did make the bench, but did not play in Malaga’s 0-0 draw with Osasuna.

Jozy Altidore started and played the whole game in AZ Alkmaar’s 1-1 tie with Groningen.

Terrence Boyd went 86 minutes in Rapid Vienna’s 3-0 win over Mattersburg. Boyd also scored in the 38th minute.

Sacha Kljestan started and played all 90 minutes in Anderlecht’s 1-0 win over Kortrijk.

Mix Diskerud started and went the distance in Rosenborg’s 4-1 win over Honefoss.

Josh Gatt was not in the squad for Molde’s 2-0 win over Fredrikstad.

Alejandro Bedoya’s Helsingborg has the week off.

Michael Parkhurst’s Nordsjaelland beat AGF 2-0, but Parkhurst was not in the game day squad.

Conor O’Brien’s Sonderjyske lost 3-2 to Silkeborg. O’Brien went the distance.

Clarence Goodson was not in the squad for Brondby’s 2-2 draw with Esbjerg.

In Mexico

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Tijuana beat Monterrey 1-0 in their first-leg matchup of the Liga MX playoffs midweek. Edgar Castillo started and went the distance. Texas-born and U.S. youth international Greg Garza came on in the 79th minute and scored the game-winner in the 86th minute. Joe Corona did not play.

The second leg of their quarterfinal matchup is on Monday.

Jose Torres’ Pachuca and Herculez Gomez’ Santos Laguna did not qualify for the Liga MX playoffs. Their respective seasons are over.